Althea Moss shared this poem which was originally written about Refugees but could equally well apply to Migrants – in New Zealand and anywhere else in the world. Many thanks to the author Brian Bilston for allowing us to reproduce it here.

You have to make sure that you read to the bottom!

They have no need of our help
So do not tell me
These haggard faces could belong to you or me
Should life have dealt them a different hand
We need to see them for who they really are
Chancers and scroungers
Layabouts and loungers
With bombs up their sleeves
Cut-throats and thieves
They are not
Welcome here
We should make them
Go back to where they came from
They cannot
Share our food
Share our homes
Share our countries
Instead let us
Build a wall to keep them out
It is not okay to say
These are people just like us
A place should only belong to people who were born there
Do not be so stupid to think that
The world can be looked at another way

(now read from bottom to top)
Brian Bilston